Masks of the Betrayed
by Cornuthaum
Summary: 20 Truths - We lie, we cheat, and we betray. Ours is the right to rule the world forevermore. 20 thoughts on traitors, betrayers and fools alike.


Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I would have the money to buy all the bacon I wanted. But I don't. So, no bacon.

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1.) Kururugi Suzaku has switched sides so many times that only one side everyone can agree the Knight of Betrayal being on is his own.

2.) The first time he lied to his sister, Lelouch vi Britannia hurt on the inside. The second time, it stung. The third time, he didn't even notice.

3.) It is because of love that Kallen Stadtfeld stands against the one she loves most. Betrayal is such a bitter poison, and even a devoted servant wants to be rewarded sooner or later.

4.) C.C. can still remember the searing torment when she received the code. But compared to the crushing realization that she was well and truly ALONE after her only friend had just gone and died on her like that, the physical pain was nothing.

5.) Shirley loses three things at the same time: Her innocent belief in justice, her unwavering trust in Lelouch Lamperouge... and her father.

6.) Jeremiah Gottwald experiences betrayal hands-on and in the most basic way: Those he thought friends turn away, those he thoughts comrades mock him, and those he thought of as brothers-in-arms attempt to murder him.

7.) Euphemia li Britannia betrays herself. In the last seconds before her conscious mind is drowned in a black sea of horror she realizes that she is about to undo everything, absolutely everything she has ever stood for. And as she watches herself gun down children and elderly alike, she weeps because that not-her enjoys it.

8.) Charles zi Britannia has lived Betrayal. It is his sword, it is his shield, and, to his horror, turns out to be in his blood as well. His bitter heart breaks when V.V. kills the one woman he -loves- and breaks their oath of truth. His bitter, broken heart stops beating when his son condemns him to the worst fate Charles could imagine.

9.) Schneizel el Britannia is a liar, a cheat and a traitor to his family, his underlings and to his nation. He would have an eternity of the Status Quo, if only because he is so deathly afraid of change that he would break the world to keep it.

10.) Tamaki Shinichiro, in his own way, is one of the few whose loyalty towards Zero can rival Jeremiah Gottwald's loyalty toward Lelouch vi Britannia. It is, therefore, no wonder that this grand betrayal - and for poor, misinformed Tamaki it is just that - almost breaks him.

11.) Todo Kyoshiro betrays Zero for one simple reason: War. No matter how much the man tries to bury it within his heart, no matter how much he attempts to hide his nature, he is a warrior through and through and if there is one thing he wants, no, that he needs, it is battle. And no grander battles can be fought against anyone but the one miracle strategist in the world Todo considers at the least an equal.

12.) Milly Ashford still remembers the bitter, drawn faces of the Ashford clan members when they were banished by spiteful petty rivals after their star pilot-turned-empress was gunned down. She remembers being forced to leave her country because those supposed to protect their lessers dropped them like a hot potato instead.

13.) Ougi Kaname leaves the employ of Zero for perhaps the simplest and oldest reason: Love. He truly, utterly and wholly loves Villetta Nu and would fight against those who walk the worlds as giants.

14.) Sumeragi Kaguya has nightmares for years. In these dark dreams, the XCIX. Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, Lelouch vi Britannia, doesn't turn out to be a good person. In those dreams, he continues to hold her and the UFN council hostage. It is that one moment that made her question her husband.

15.) Diethard Ried is thrice-damned. First, he betrays his Empire, joining the cause of a far greater master than the far-off Emperor. Second, he betrays his new master out of a petty desire to see grand things, be they rebellion or death. Third, he is betrayed by his second master, brother of the first. As Schneizel shoots him, Diethard breaks, and dies forsaken and alone.

16.) The betrayals Cornelia li Britannia had to endure are too numerous to cause, and almost all of them can safely be placed at the feet of her family. Her loyal manservants betray her under the Geass of Lelouch, her father discards her in the prison-facility of the Order of Geass and Schneizel, of all people, is the one to gun her down. Shortly before falling unconscious, she wishes she could've turned tables on at least one of them.

17.) Viletta Nu, much like her husband-to-be, betrays her masters for one of the oldest, simplest reasons in the book: Power. Baroness Nu intends to keep her title, and to hell with the costs.

18.) V.V. is the reason why Charles zi Britannia turned from benevolent dictator to hard-hearted warmonger, and it is only when his brother, with such infinite sadness in his royal eyes, takes his immortality and his life that V.V. understands just how badly being betrayed by those you trust hurts.

19.) Nina Einstein blames many people for many things. Zero, for the death of Euphemia and herself for creating FLEIJA, but even beyond her hate for the masked rebel, she blames Kururugi Suzaku for the death of 36.000.000 people. She knows what happened that day in the skies above the Tokyo Settlement.

20.) When it's all said and done, not even the great Knight of Betrayal can come close to the one man, the one enigma. None can equal Zero. He is the eye of a storm, and the storm is called "Betrayal". Bonds break where he goes, trust is lost and good faith shattered. Zero, with all his heart, wishes it weren't so, because most of the time, he is the one drawing the short end of the stick.


End file.
